Blackhawks Capture Babe Ruth Championship

The Newtown Blackhawks’ 10-year-old travel baseball team captured their Babe Ruth district 5 championship on June 28 with an 11-1 victory over Southbury. Newtown was 4-0 in the tournament with two wins over Southbury and victories over Waterbury and Oxford.

Newtown 10 Waterbury 0 (4 innings): Dave Matthews and Luke Rustici combined on a one-hitter and Newtown scored early and often in the first game of the Tournament. Newtown pushed across four runs in the first inning on only one hit. Matthews stole home in each of the first three innings. In the third inning, Michael Parker had a two-run single. Matthews and Curtis Williamson each had two hits, Matthews scored three times and Parker scored twice.

Newtown 4 Southbury 1: Great pitching and defense allowed Newtown to defeat a tough Southbury team in the second tourney game. Matthews pitched four strong innings, and allowed one run on four hits and issued only one walk. Parker pitched two innings of two-hit ball to pick up the save. Newtown pushed across a run in the first when Jaret Devellis (two hits in the game) singled, stole second, moved to third on a Parker single, and then stole home. In the fourth, Nick Samuelson drove in Michael Doyle, who had doubled in the gap. Newtown added two in the fifth as Tim Krapf and Matt Maturo scored. In the sixth inning, Southbury had two on and one out when first baseman Maturo fielded a hard hit grounder, stepped on first, and fired to shortstop Jack Proccaccini who applied the tag to complete the game ending double play. Alex Klang walked and stole a base to help the Newtown offense.

Newtown 10 Oxford 1: Rustici and Williamson each pitched three solid innings and held Oxford to only four base runners. as Newtown scored seven runs in the third inning to blow the game open. In the third inning, Newtown sent 12 batters to the plate. Krapf blasted a two-run double to left center, Doyle had an RBI single, Rustici had a drive to deep right center that resulted in a sacrifice fly, and Parker completed the scoring with a two-run double to right field. Devellis and Doyle had two hits apiece, Devellis scored three runs and Parker scored two. Klang played solid defense in the outfield.

Newtown 11 Southbury 1 (4 innings): Matthews won his third game of the tournament, as he allowed one run and two hits in three innings of work. Matthews struck out seven batters. Parker pitched a scoreless fourth to seal the victory. Unlike the first game between these two teams, Newtown put the game away early as it scored eight runs in the first two innings. In the first inning, Matthews’ two-run triple was the highlight. He then stole home. In the five-run second, Declan Sullivan and Krapf had RBI singles, Parker drove in two with a single, and Matt Maturo also had an RBI. In the fourth, Doyle and Proccaccini singled, and then Doyle scored from third on a wild pick-off throw for the game-ending run and championship. Devellis, Parker, Williamson, and Sullivan each scored two runs, and Matthews and Parker each drove in three.

In the tournament, Devellis led the team with seven hits, a .778 batting average and an on base percentage of .833. Doyle added five hits and batted .455 and Williamson had four hits and batted .500. Parker drove in a team-high seven runs and Matthews knocked in four. Devellis and Parker each scored six runs. The pitching for Newtown held the opposition in check throughout the tourney. Matthews was 3-0 with a 2.00 earned run average. He compiled 15 stikeouts in nine innings of work. Rustici (1-0) had a 1.80 era over five innings and added seven strikeouts. Parker (one save) and Williamson were perfect, each pitching three scoreless innings. Opponents batted only .192 against the formidable Newtown staff. The team is coached by Tim Doyle, Mike Maturo and Jim Parker.